2011 Two Pounds

Three different £2 coins were issued in 2011. Two commemorative coins, one to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James bible and another to mark 500 years since the construction of the Mary Rose. The standard coin with the ages of man reverse was also issued.

The obverse has the portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley. The reverse omits the denomination ‘TWO POUNDS’, so this has been incorporated into the obverse and is shown at the bottom.

The reverse is by Paul Stafford and Benjamin Wright and shows the biblical quote ‘In the beginning was the word’ as type and as printing blocks in negative, to the left. The coin is often called the ‘KJB’ £2. Started in 1604 and finished in 1611, the English translation of the bible (from Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin) commissioned by King James I was to be the new authorised English language version of the bible:

NOTE THAT FAKES ARE KNOWN TO EXIST OF THIS COIN – They are poor in style (particularly the bust of the Queen) and are missing their edge inscription. The brass coloured part is slightly magnetic and if you look closely they are in fact made of one single metal instead of being made of two parts. See image of fake coin below.

The story behind the design:

The obverse has the portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley. This commemorative £2 coin omits the date on its reverse, so this has been incorporated into the obverse and is shown at the bottom as ‘2011’.

The reverse features the words ‘The Mary Rose’ in Tudor style script and shows the ship in the centre. The ship design was inspired by a contemporary painting. The Mary Rose was completed in 1511 and was a favourite of King Henry VIII. It was sunk in 1545 with over 400 crew on board, re-discovered in 1971, raised in 1982 and is currently on display in Portsmouth:

The obverse portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley has been used on all UK coinage from 1998 to 2015 and is the fourth portrait of the Queen used on coinage. At the time of writing, this portrait is due to be replaced by a new one, to be unveiled in 2015.

The reverse design shows the ages of man. Represented are the Iron Age, the Industrial Revolution, the Electronic Age and the Internet Age. The edge quote ‘STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS’ is from a letter by Sir Isaac Newton from 1676 in which he wrote: ‘If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants’, which may have been a modest nod to other scientists, but some say that it may have been poking fun at the stature of the recipient of the letter, Robert Hooke. The expression ‘Standing on the shoulders of giants’ pre-dates Newton by many centuries:

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